572 PRIVILEGE OE THE LIVING ABOVE TiiE DEAR. death is buried with the body of flesh in the grave, and earth is theplace where themembers of it must be put to death. Mortify your members wldch are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry ; Col. iii. 5. Let us be daily engaged in the zealous practice of this duty, and subdue all the unruly appetites that make an assault upon our virtue, that defile our conscience, and subdue our peace. Now, now is the time to set ourselves at work to fight against our vicious inclinations and our irregular desires : Now let us multiply our victories over sin and self. Earth is the field of battle with sin : In heaven our desires shall all be pure and holy, there is no sinful wandering appetite, no perverse affection ; no irregular thought or wish amongst all the saints above : There is no contest with indwelling corruptions, no, such conquests are to be gained in all that holy and happy world. There are no new honours of this kind to be given to Jesus, the Captain of our Salvation, nor any new triumphs to beobtained over sin, to the glory of divine grace. Come then, let us bestir ourselves, and awake to the battle, let us bravely resist the workings of flesh and blood, by the aids of the bles- sed Spirit ; let us be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and maintain the glorious warfare, like soldiers who fight for the honour of their general, and who hopé for a crown of immortality. [If this Sermon be, too Iong, it may be divided here.] VIII. Repentance and godly sorrow for our past offences, belongonly to this life. Converting grace works only on earth; we are called to repent in order to be forgiven : Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out ; Acts iii. 19. And the exercise of this grace is not onlynecessary at first conversion, (though it most eminently appears at that season) but it must run like a thread though the whole course of this mortal life, till death shall put anutter end to sin. Let every known sin there- fore which we are guilty of be attended with some new and sen- sible exercise of shame, and sorrow, and holy indignation against ourselves. Let us live in a daily, constant, penitent frame, for we are daily sinners. This painful sense of sin, this holy mourning, is an honour done to the law of our God. It is .the living, the living who are called to this work ; for there is no repentance in thegrave : Shew your hatred of sin therefore con- tinually, and your sincere love to the law of holiness by such an humiliation asbecomes an imperfect saint. You will ask me, " Do no saints in heaven repent that they have ever sinned here onearth1" I answer, that whatsoever regret they feel in the memory of their past transgressions, it is not attended with such sensible
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